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Houstonians asked to conserve water during drought
FOX 26 Reporter Tiffany Justice explains why the city is asking residents to conserve water.
HOUSTON - The city of Houston and other water authorities are asking residents to conserve water as we are in a drought.
"This is going to probably end up being a historically warm June for the state as a whole," said Dr. Robert Mace, Executive Director, Meadows Center, Meadows Center for Water & the Environment, Texas State University.
RELATED: Texas drought worsens with 80% of state affected; Houston area sees extreme conditions
Houston is now in phase one of its drought contingency plan, which goes into play when annual rainfall amounts drop with higher-than-normal daily temperatures.
Mace says, since the beginning of June, the water supply has dropped sharply.
"Lake Houston is 97% full right now, but it was completely full at the beginning of June, it dropped pretty sharply,'' said Mace. "It doesn’t take much for the huge demand of water that Houston has, for reservoirs in that area to get overwhelmed."
RELATED: Rising temperatures lead to ongoing droughts across Texas
Mace says if cities across the state of Texas want to prevent what Texans went through in the serene drought of 2011, we should conserve.
"Houston did have to do something in 2011, that was the worst one year statewide drought in history," said Mace. "They did have to do something, they probably didn’t think they would have to do."
Houston is now asking its residents to reduce water usage by 5%.
They say most of Houston’s service area is experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions. These conditions call for implementation of Stage One water conservation measures.
Read the City of Houston’s full Drought Contingency Plan
Stage One drought response calls for the following voluntary water conservation efforts:
- Limit outdoor watering to twice a week between the hours of 7 p.m. and 5 a.m. with the following schedule:
- Sundays & Thursdays for single-family residential customers with even-numbered street addresses
- Saturdays and Wednesdays for single-family residential customers with odd-numbered street addresses
- Tuesdays and Fridays for all other customers
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Water customers are also reminded to continue everyday efforts to prevent the loss of water:
- Check & repair water leaks, including dripping faucets & running toilets
- Check sprinkler heads to make sure water is not spraying into the street or directly into a storm drain and/or gutters
"People definitely can make an impact during the summer months, outdoor water use is half the total of household use," said Mace.
The North Harris County Regional Water Authority also advises consumers to conserve.
"People don’t realize how much water can be wasted with a leaking toilet, thousands of gallons of water every month," said Alan Rendl, President of the North Harris County Regional Water Authority.